Ash tray with cavity for reception of ashes



Jan. 5, 1960 E. P. AGHNIDES 2,919,701

ASH TRAY WITH CAVITY FOR RECEPTION 0F ASHES Original Filed July 29, 1952 IN VENTOR Elie P. Aghnides' ATTORNEYS United States Patent ASH TRAY WITH CAVITY FOR RECEPTION OF ASHES Elie P. Aghnides, New York, N.Y.

4 Claims. (Cl. 131235) This invention relates to ash trays with cavities for the reception of ashes. Ash trays are well known in the prior art, but they are in general unsatisfactory as they are fire hazards.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide an ash tray that is safe as well as convenient to use.

Another disadvantage of prior art ash trays is that they are difficult to clean. An object of my invention is to overcome this defect.

The invention employs a central cavity which has a projection in the center of it. A cigarette rest position on the wall of the central cavity will direct a cigarette toward the projection. A large number of small cavities large enough to permit easy insertion of cigaret ends and preferably at least one inch deep are located outside of the central cavity. Due to the depth and small crosssection of these cavities, smokers using this ash tray will merely drop the lighted cigarette in one of the small cavities. The smoker cannot crush the burning end of the cigarette against the bottom of the cavity due to the depth of the latter. The cigarette is, however, quickly extinguished due to the lack of air in the small cavity. My invention involves certain novel features which enable the above-mentioned parts to be effectively mounted and used.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 301,516, filed July 29, 1952 for Ash Tray With Cavity for Reception of Ashes, now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of my prior copending application Serial No. 183,542, filed September 7, 1950, entitled Ash Trays now U.S. Patent No. 2,710,611. Reference is also made to my U.S. Patent No. 2,798,498 for additional background.

One feature of the invention is the provision of an inner member having a. depending lip which is centered with respect to an upstanding part of an outer bowl by partition-forming webs projecting laterally from the outer periphery of the inner member. These webs also function to form a series of cavities or wells in the annular space formed by the bowl and the inner member. The bowl and the inner member are readily separable for cleaning and may be reassembled by merely dropping the inner member into the bowl where it positions itself automatically under the action of gravity.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of one form of the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line '.2-2 of Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 2, the ash tray comprises two readily separable pieces, the first of which is a main bowl 20 having an outer circular portion 21 and an inner central projection 22. The other piece is a removable inner element 23 having a plurality of cigarette rests 24 and a plurality of webs '25. The webs 25 project outward from element 23 and divide the space between the concentric walls of elements 20 and 23 into a plurality of vertical tapered cavities of small cross-section (larger than that of a cigarette), and of a depth of preferably oneand 2,919,701 Patented Jan. 5, 1960 ice one-half inches. Tapering of the cavities occurs as a result of the fact that the bowl 21 slants inwardly toward the bottom so that each cavity has a smaller cross-sectional area at the bottom than at the top. The webs also provide the function of centering the element 23 in main bowl 20. The smoker, instead of crushing the cigarette merely drops it in one of the small outer cavities where the air supply is so limited that the cigarette is promptly extinguished. If desired, the cavity taper can be increased so that the bottom of the cavity grips or even lightly squeezes the lighted end, thus decreasing the air supply if any is present. The collection of carbon dioxide gas in the bottom would tend to displace any oxygen in all the cavities at the level of the burning end of a cigarette being snuffed out.

If it is desired to use temporarily the cigarette rest 24 for a burning cigarette, the cigarette may be positioned on the rest 24. The burning end of the cigarette may touch projection 22 which prevents the cigarette from sliding into the central cavity. This construction is unusually safe from the standpoint of avoiding fires, because there is no way for a cigarette, placed in rest 24, to fall outside of the ash tray. Moreover, if the cigarette burns and thus changes its center of gravity, it cannot fall outside of the ash tray. Moreover, the overhanging inclined element carrying rests 24 prevents the wind (or air from an electric fan) from blowing ashes out of the central cavity (surrounding projection 22). The foregoing combination of parts is very safe in use, and may be easily cleaned after removing the inner element 23.

The width of the webs between cavities should be as small as possible preferably not greater than one-half inch. The diameters of the cavities as measured in horizontal planes should preferably be no greater than onehalf inch and the depth of the cavities should preferably be at least one inch.

The new ash tray has the following advantages: (1) elimination of fire hazards, (2) elimination of odors as rapid extinction prevents condensation of tars and nicotine, (3) elimination of smoke, (4) avoids unsightly view of cigarette butts, (5) saves space as butts in my ash tray will occupy less room than butts piled up in a disorderly manner, (6) increase capacity of butts, (7) permits ready and rapid separation for cleaning, and (8) may be reassembled by merely dropping the inner member in place.

While there have been described above what are at present believed to be the preferred form of this invention, it will be understood that various changes may be made therein by those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of the invention. All such variations which fall within the true spirit of the invention are intended to be included in the appended claims in which generic terms have been employed to include all such variations and equivalent structures.

' I claim to have invented:

1. An ash tray comprising an outer part and an inner removable part, the outer part being a bowl and the inner part being spaced from the outer part, the inner part having a portion resting on the bowl and extending upward from the bottom of the bowl in spaced relation with the wall of the bowl, means between the spaced walls of said parts for dividing the space into a plurality of vertical cigarette extinguishing cavities, the inner part including a lip extending inwardly from its top end thereby overhanging the central cavity formed in the bowl, said lip being entirely inward of said bowl, said inner part being centrally positioned in said bowl by said means, said outer part having a generally conical projection extending into said central cavity adjacent the inner edge of said lip.

2. An ash tray comprising an outer tray part, an inner removable part having integral partition elements which when inserted in the outer part divide the latter into a plurality of outer small cavities and a central large cavity, a cigarette rest on said inner part overhanging a portion of the central cavity and extending inwardly and downwardly and being entirely inward of said outer tray part, said partition elements sewing to limit the movement of said inner movable part within said outer tray and help position said movable part centrally therein a generally conical projection integral with said outer tray part and extending into said central cavity adjacent the inner edge of said lip for stopping a cigarette that tends to slide down the cigarette rest.

3. An ash tray comprising a circular bowl, an element adapted to be readily removably inserted in said bowl, said element having a thin, substantially cylindrical partition resting on the bottom of the bowl and extending upwardly in concentric relationship with the bowl, said partition dividing the bowl into a large central cavity and a ring-shaped cavity, said partition carrying a plurality of thin radial webs dividing the ring-shaped cavity into a plurality of elongated generally vertical cavities each having a cross-section slightly larger than that of a cigarette and serving to position said element within said bowl, said partition carrying adjacent the top thereof a lip extending inwardly and downwardly into the central cavity, and being entirely inward of said bowl, said bowl having a bottom general-1y conical in shape extending upwardly into said central cavity to provide thereby a stop for a cigarette resting on said lip and tending to slide down said lip.

4. An ash tray as defined in claim 3 in which said Webs extend from the partition substantially to the inner side wall of the bowl so that the inner part fits into the outer part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,221,300 Kelly Nov. 12, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 289,727 Great Britain May 13, 1928 422,431 Great Britain Jan. 11, 1935 629,810 Great Britain Sept. 28, 1949 

